Reflecting on the actions of the second Trump administration and the fears that we are descending into a complete authoritarian dictatorship, I am reminded of a now innocuous moment that occurred about four years ago.
Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn spoke at a June 2021 QAnon event in Dallas, TX. An audience member asked, “I want to know why what happened in Minamar (sic) can’t happen here,” referencing the Feb. 2021 military coup in Myanmar. Flynn replied, “No reason, I mean, it should happen here.” Flynn later backpedaled on his comments, the military declined to investigate the matter and the whole thing blew over.
Almost four years later, Flynn is sort of getting what he wished for through Trump’s attempt at the slow, quasi-legal dismantling of our democratic institutions; something currently less akin to Myanmar and more to Orban’s Hungary or Chavez’s Venezuela.
In lieu of classical scenes of the military immediately liquidating the civilian government, a South African car salesman and his squad of 20-somethings are encroaching on Congress’ powers, subverting proper chains of command and communication in the federal bureaucracy, exposing sensitive information and slashing government offices, programs and personnel with reckless abandon.
However, the sum of the Trump Administration’s actions and their immediate fallout suggest this is more than a cost-saving government shake-up gone awry.
Trump’s pardoning of 1500 Jan. 6 rioters amidst the recent revelations that some of the participating militias are quietly entrenching themselves in local and state governments reeks of implicit support for future violent acts.
His attempts to disappear and deport green card holders for participating in peaceful protests reflects his disturbing campaign remarks about combatting ‘the enemy from within.’ Additionally, his request to the Supreme Court to let him overturn birthright citizenship, if fruitful, would only broaden his ability to arbitrarily erase this nebulous enemy and confirm he can amend the constitution at will.
This and other domestic security issues will be handled by a dangerously partisan FBI director and a Secretary of Homeland Security who is banned from a fifth of her home state for pushing conspiracy theories about Native American drug cartels.
These events fall within Trump’s broader attacks on free discourse and association, such as banishing media organizations he disapproves of from his press conferences and pressuring universities into defunding cultural affinity clubs.
From frivolous FBI investigations of environmental NGOs and devastating NIH funding cuts to deporting foreign critics on feckless terrorism accusations, academia hasn’t been spared either.
Against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s decision to give broad immunity from prosecution to the president for conducting “official acts,” Trump’s combination of rhetoric and action has alarmed genocide, press censorship and civil liberties watchdogs alike.
Congress’ reaction has been pathetic. The Republicans are fully enabling Trump, avoiding their angry constituents like the plague as they propose ludicrous bills to allow him to seek a third term or to carve his face on Mount Rushmore. The Democrats, still reeling from Harris’s loss, are failing to mount a proper opposition to what is at best, shameful, wasteful pandering and at worst, signs that our government is now run by a cult.
None of this is unique to the federal level, either. In Tennessee, the state senate voted in favor of the Medical Ethics Defense Act, which will allow doctors to refuse treatment to patients based on personal beliefs if passed into law.
In Minnesota, state republicans proposed a bill to recognize Trump Derangement Syndrome, vaguely defined as “an acute onset of paranoia in response to the policies and presidencies of Donald Trump,” as a mental illness. If passed, any political opposition to Trump in Minnesota can be labeled mental illness.
Thankfully, federal judges aren’t rolling over, having recently blocked Trump’s attempts to continue mass firings of federal employees and ordered Musk’s “Department” of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to operate more transparently, restore most of USAID and more.
Despite Vice President J.D. Vance telling the courts they aren’t allowed to check executive power — a core function of the judiciary — the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has pushed back on Trump’s attempt to bully federal judges with impeachment.
While these attacks appear subtle and superficial, the rhetoric of our government and its pundits doesn’t stop at maintaining a veneer of democracy as seen in Hungary, Russia or Venezuela; they’re willing to fully commit our country to authoritarian rule.
Look no further beyond Flynn’s praise for Myanmar’s coup than Trump’s continued praise of Kim Jong Un, Pete Hegseth’s purge of the Pentagon to enable illegal use of military force, Kevin Roberts’s cryptic threats of violent upheaval, Ivan Raiklin’s yearning for lynch mobs as he pens deep-state kill lists or Steve Bannon’s prediction of the potentially blood-soaked start to Trump 2028.
They still want to repeat Myanmar’s coup here, even as Myanmar burns in the aftermath. The coup, which Flynn briefly idolized, has degraded into a new wave of a never-ending civil war with no clear winners, yet the junta’s prospects for survival age like room temperature milk by the day.
The course we’re on is littered with warnings to turn back. Countries like Sudan and Burkina Faso are being ravaged by civil wars stemming from imploding authoritarian regimes as other countries from Guatemala to Cambodia remain heavily scarred and traumatized decades after their guns fell silent.
Be it Myanmar, or elsewhere, whether by a sudden declaration of martial law or the slow withering of democratic institutions, what is happening elsewhere is happening here, and it worries me how little we notice or care.
To those who think my concerns are overblown, I can only caution against continued wishful thinking that we’re impervious to authoritarianism. To varying degrees, we have indeed been here before, but that is no excuse to go back. To those who truly wish to repeat Myanmar’s history here, be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.
Contact Jacob Whitney at jwhitney@oxy.edu
